by Sarah Todd

Created on: April 22, 2009

Few places on earth are more cosmopolitan than Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city. The eclectic culture has evolved over the centuries, with British, Dutch, German, French and Indonesian settlers and traders all leaving their mark upon this beautiful city. This influence combines with the heritage of the Cape's Bushmen and Hottentot native tribes and the northern Bantu to make Cape Town a truly international city unlike any other.

We flew to Cape Town from Zimbabwe's capital city via Johannesburg. We were staying with our friend Pete, who lives In Somerset West, a small town to the east of Cape Town. The drive along the highway from the Airport to Cape Town was our introduction to the city we'd be calling home for the next ten days. The highway was in excellent condition, and ran through areas of scrub that flowed away the verges of the road towards distant mountains.

Unfortunately the shanty towns erected next to the highway came into view ten minutes later, a sobering reminder that ten years after gaining independence the contrast between rich and poor has worsened. We saw a number of shanty towns along the main highways during our stay in Cape Town.

Pete's home was a practical and extremely modern cluster home in a compound of about 30 residences. This style of living is very popular in South Africa, because of security and reduced overheads. The view from Pete's house was superb. Somerset West is built on a hill overlooking the city, and the view from his veranda offered the classic Cape Town view the sprawling city at the foot of majestic Table Mountain, the lighthouse and the Atlantic Ocean. This is why he spends most of his time on his veranda or in his garden.

Cape Town is a major city, and it's more organized and environmentally friendly than Johannesburg, and as a result doesn't sprawl in all directions. Driving into town Table Mountain was clearly visible, and to welcome us that morning it was wearing what locals call "The Tablecloth". Although this is simply the white cloud blown over the mountain when a south easterly wind blows, it's very impressive, and there's a wonderful tale that has evolved around this phenomenon.

A less famous mountain near Table Mountain is called "Devil's Peak", and it's claimed that a pirate called Van Hunks was living out his days on the slopes of this mountain. One day he met a stranger, who challenged him to a smoking contest. Van Hunks, who was extremely partial to his pipe, accepted the challenge, and the

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